Book Review: Sweetheart Fairies -- Daisy's Rainbow Picnic by Katie Peters

Book Review ...

Sweetheart Fairies -- Daisy's Rainbow Picnic

Author: Katie Peters
Illustrations: Sanja Rescek

Published in 2008 by Scholastic Children's Books
ISBN10: 0439944767       ISBN13: 9789439944762

This book is about Fairy Daisy and her friends baking goodies for their afternoon picnic.

Each page features a different sparkly fruit flip-up flap that hides beneath it a special dessert that each of her friends is bringing along. Daisy used raspberries, Jasmine a peach, Rosies cherries and Lily  blueberries. Doesn't each sounds so delicious and yummy. A story about friendship, hope and love.

It was a nice surprise to find out what had been freshly made and even though it was a secret written under the flap most were easy to guess. 

I found the graphics very pretty and the storyline is super cute that keeps the reader engaged right to the last page.

Each Sweetheart Fairy is dressed in little dresses matching the colour of the fruit that they used for their dessert. They each have a sparkly set of leaf wings, shoes and lacy trims on their gowns. Plus, each page features wee critters from butterflies to ants to caterpillars to dragonflies too! Each of these are just as sparkly as their Fairy friend. 

The graphics by Sanja is definitely the reason why I purchased this 6 paged hardcovered picture book. The raised sparkles makes this book fall within my guidelines under the touch and feel category. 

You can purchase this book through your local bookstore. I did take a look through most of the larger on-line bookstores but either they were all very expensive or out-of-stock.

Daisy's Rainbow Picnic is just one of four in this set of board books. The other titles being Jasmine's Sparkly Surprise, Rosie's Magical Hide-and-Seek and Lily's Twinkle Bedtime. Be sure to check out these other books in this series. 

Christmas Wreaths of 2020

Each year the Nursery makes fresh Christmas Wreaths to give away and donate to friends and the local community. 

This time around, I made 12, including one for our own door. That means I had a MASSIVE sparkle party in my own kitchen. Usually I can do this project all in one evening but 12 was just a few too many so it took me a whole 2 evenings to decorate them all. I did however learn a few things from the past few years, like how to contain as many sparkles in one area and how NOT to spread them all throughout the house. So, I came up with an ingenious plan to tape plastic tablecloths onto the kitchen cupboards. This worked perfectly as we have a galley shaped kitchen. Mind you, with two woof woofs, a Hubby Dearest, myself and the FAERIES we still did an amazing job of making the house all glittery. 

 

Each year I make our wreath just a bit different than the rest. I decided to go with a rose-gold theme and I think it was one of the best ones I've ever made and we were really happy with how it turned out.

So between shades of reds, cream, white, gold, green and silver these wreaths went beyond me expectations. Each wreath had Christmas scented pinecones that would waif into the air and of course wee bells that would ring each time a door was opened or closed. One thing that I did add in this year were lights!! Either pinecones or mesh wired balls in gold or silver made the sparkles dance in the evening light. It was so beautiful to drive down the street and see all of the wreaths I had made lit up. 

It was just this past weekend that I had all of the wreaths returned to me so it was time to cover up the kitchen and take them all apart to save the flowers and decorations for next year. As each wreath was dropped off or picked up, the recipients had nothing but praise, amazement and a glitter in their eye. It took me a full two evenings to make all twelve wreaths and only one afternoon to store everything away.

Now it wouldn't be right if I didn't take orders for next year. Surprisingly enough, the most asked for colour was BLUE! Yes, blue. Second would be metallics and then follows all of the regular traditional colours of reds, greens creams and whites. So, I have already ordered over 200 blue silk poinsettia flowers and now almost daily there seems to be a parcel or two waiting for us at the post box. It's like getting a present everyday! Mind you, my shopping doesn't stop now as I'll be busy looking for sparkly decorations all throughout the year.

So, which one was your favourite? Do you prefer the traditional look of reds and greens or are you a bit more daring and you like pinks, purples and blues? 

Book Review: What Kind of Fairy is Merry Berry?

Book Review ...

What Kind of Fairy is Merry Berry?

Author: Lindsey Renee
Illustrator: Lindsey Renee & Susan Reagan

Originally Published in 2010 by Chronicle Books
ISBN 9780811876858

... all you need to do is believe in yourself and your true fairy will emerge.


This story takes place in Lulaland where Merry Berry lives with her cat Pom Pom and she is about to take an adventure of a lifetime.


Merry Berry goes for a walk and finds herself is a very special neighbourhood, one she had never seen before. Meeting new friends along the way she is told the secret of what it takes to become a fairy. She couldn't believe that after her magical day she could have yet another surprise, a visit from her Guardian Angel's. These fairies help explain in more detail what Merry Berry needs to do to earn her wings. So she slowly drifts off to sleep (not without a lot trouble though) where she dreams of the things she loves to do. After sharing her special gift with her friends, Merry Berry's wishes comes true and a she receives a wonderful gift of a shimmering dress, sparkly slippers, a pretty bracelet, a magical wand and best of all the most beautiful fairy wings ever. What more could a girl ask for?

from www.mamamaryshow.com

This book is filled with colourful drawings and has splashes of sparkles throughout. The moral behind the story is one that is common sense and makes it easy to believe that becoming a fairy really can happen. And can't it after all? Don't we all have something special inside of us that makes us unique and different, of course we do.


Now tell me, what kind of fairy are you?



You can purchase this book through your local bookstore or online through Amazon.com and Amazon.ca.

Peeking Around the Corner

so, here we are...many many (too many) moons gone by since i have had a chance to chat with you.

to me, when starting a new line, i kinda forget that there is an actual outside, an outside of the nursery. i know that I get comments from hubby (almost daily) did you read about this? have you taken the time to take a look at the photos i sent on Facebook? what do you think about going to the town bar-b-que this Friday? are you all packed to go and meet your 5th grand baby (Jolene Julie)? did you feed the dogs (Fionn & Ciaran) their night time snacks? .... i'm thinking that you just might be getting the picture here.

i have figured out that i really do need to keep in contact but it seems though that when i do get distracted it takes me even longer to complete the project of the day that i had been busy doing in the first place. but i know, my mother told me that getting that bit of fresh air will actually clear my head for a clearer picture of what next needs to be done.  

but.. 

i have convinced myself that .. here it comes .. another excuse ..

on the company's FaceBook page i created a photo album that i feel tells a bit (probably way more than what my intention was) of the up-coming result from my heart-felt journey of this newest line. A line that i can't wait to share with you. Oh, and plus, it just might prove that, yes, i have genuinely been working here in the nursery. 

hush  hush hush out of you .. now the cat-is-out-of-the-bag so to speak so please i ask you to remember that this posting was all just a mirage and that you will patiently wait a bit longer for the big reveal. 

great! now i have to go back and erase my Facebook album so they to can wait too (hopefully before any one sees or comments on the album)!

in case you end up missing it, i figure it would be best to share it with you now  ...

the sneak peek ..

Blake's Birthday Invite ... July 12, 2013

We, the Faerie Guardians at Enchanted Pathways Faerie Nursery were invited to a Birthday Party...our very first invite for the nursery to do sparkle tattoos.

We enjoyed our time at Blake's birthday and I think by the time we left...everyone was sparkled! Even the furniture I hear...oops!!

Laura was able to provide us a few photos from that day....Miss Tehya is wearing a purple t-shirt, Miss Blake (the birthday girl) is wearing a shiny yellow princess dress, Miss Mackenzie is wearing a shiny purple princess dress and Master Imoosy is wearing a green t-shirt.

Birthday Girl Blake and Imoosey

Tehya, Blake, Mackenzie and Imoosey 

Blake, Mackenzie and Imoosey

 

Tehya and Imoosey

              

                  Tehya, Blake, Mackenzie and Imoosey 

Tehya, Blake, Mackenzie and Imoosey 

Faerie Amma, Faerie Georgina and Faerie Malinda

And Who Doesn't Love SPARKLES???

Tomorrow is Art in the Park and as a last minute decision I decided I would like to do a tree display for the faeries. 

Now normally, well I have only ever done Christmas craft fairs before, I have used pine tree branches with moss at the base. Mind you this display is used for the complete Faerie Suite that includes the magical wooden door, trinket chest and a flower petal faerie. Everything is tucked in nicely to create a wonderful mystical scene with mushrooms and rabbits and faeries in the trees.

But as this is a summer fair, I thought maybe using just branches that are sparkled to hold the faeries. So over the weekend I just happened upon one of those light-up branch Christmas trees. You know the ones, just bare branches, no leaves. Well the picture on the box made it look like it was rounded and filled out and just perfect to hide little faeries in. After taking it out of the box....well lets just say it was silver branches all right, but they were all tied together flatly. There was no dimension, no nothing, just flatness!

Really need creativity here. The craft fair set-up is tomorrow morning. I don't want another Christmas scene and anyways, my table is only going to be about 3 feet long. Not nearly enough room to show a complete Faerie Suite. So what to do. Don't want to show off my Teacup Nurseries just yet. What does that leave me. The Seed Pod Faerie Babies...but but but. Nah. I am only going to take my faeries. 

So, off I went after work...need spray paint and sparkles...oh yeah and branches! 

I was lucky enough to have Georgina come over who really should go into interior design. No, really, she should! Wow. She did a fantastic job of the whole tree. She make little spaces for the faeries to sit in and everything. Plus she seems quite at home wearing sparkles :)

I will take more pictures tomorrow once everything is set up at the venue. As I am unsure if I will have access to an electrical outlet, the tree looks just fine without all the blue shiny lights. 

Wish me luck :)    

And thank you again Georgina :)

Georgina having fun ;)

Sparkles :)

Sparkles, Spray Glue and Rubber Gloves..hmmmm

 Fionn making sure we are doing things right!!

sparkly leaves

with lights

without lights